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re: I miss the days of Alabama just lining up and dominating the other team
Posted on 1/3/15 at 7:06 am to CrimsonFever
Posted on 1/3/15 at 7:06 am to CrimsonFever
quote:I'd just like to see them get away from it when it's clear it won't work. Ohio State shut it down pretty easily, and even in crunch-time when they were gifted the ball at the 23 yard line, they went back to what just wasn't working. It made no sense. They came up to the line and I said "They have to run it this time, right?"
uptempo offense
0
Posted on 1/3/15 at 7:32 am to CrimsonFever
We ran uptempo because our OL could not impose their will like in the past. It was also to try and help our QB that had moments of, "WTF was he thinking there?". But I also think it is somewhat linked to the weak arse defense we are capable of playing.
With a really stout D you don't mind trying to pound the ball and chew up clock. You feel good that the other team will sputter at some point. But our D can't get off the field on 3rd down and allows WAY too many big plays. I still say it starts up front. We need a dominant NT and 2 DEs that get after your OL. Then we need faster LBs that can chase shite down. Against these spread teams you have to win up front or your in for a long night.
With a really stout D you don't mind trying to pound the ball and chew up clock. You feel good that the other team will sputter at some point. But our D can't get off the field on 3rd down and allows WAY too many big plays. I still say it starts up front. We need a dominant NT and 2 DEs that get after your OL. Then we need faster LBs that can chase shite down. Against these spread teams you have to win up front or your in for a long night.
Posted on 1/3/15 at 8:09 am to CrimsonFever
You do not dominate a good team with an average OL and a soft secondary.
Posted on 1/3/15 at 9:12 am to CrimsonChin
Our offensive and defensive woes will be fixed with a dominant offensive line.
Posted on 1/3/15 at 9:18 am to labamafan
True. The future of the ol looks incredible from a talent perspective and the other poster is right about play calling. We tried the passing game more because we could not just line up and impose our will.
Next year will be different and we bring in a power runner in Scarbrough. Henry is a finesse back stuck in a power back's body.
Next year will be different and we bring in a power runner in Scarbrough. Henry is a finesse back stuck in a power back's body.
Posted on 1/3/15 at 9:42 am to CrimsonFever
I don't know why this is so hard for some people to figure out. It isn't complicated. Go back and do a position by position comparison of the 2011 and 2014 rosters. Change philosophies? We had guys playing this year that wouldn't have seen the field in 2011. Or 2009. Seriously...Leon Brown and Austin Shepherd vs. Warmack and Fluker? Or the linebacking corps? Or the corners? We didn't dominate teams like we used to because we simply aren't as good as we used to be.
Posted on 1/3/15 at 10:38 am to BamaGradinTn
There's also been a talent falloff from 09-2011 to now.
Posted on 1/3/15 at 10:47 am to stomp
On OL and we don't have the same intensity in defense. Honestly we were pretty spoiled T the beginning of saban's runs with Ro, Hightower, Javy, etc. most of those guys had that drive where they just wouldn't let us lose. Hopefully we can go on another tear like that soon.
Posted on 1/3/15 at 10:55 am to CheeseburgerEddie
quote:
Honestly we were pretty spoiled T the beginning of saban's runs with Ro, Hightower, Javy, etc. most of those guys had that drive where they just wouldn't let us lose.
I feel like the 2008/2009 classes were the backbone of the Saban Era at Alabama. Since those guys left, we've been floundering a bit. (relative to our standards)
Posted on 1/3/15 at 11:23 am to stomp
At OL and at certain spots in the secondary. At some spots there's been an upgrade in talenr
Posted on 1/4/15 at 3:31 am to CrimsonFever
There were things that went wrong all year that were so insanely predictable that never got fixed. The two biggest being mobile QBs and the deep ball. People are probably tired of hearing that, sorry if you are. I don't expect the other team to not catch a pass all game, but when a few different DBs are getting burned for 50+ yard TD passes multiple times a game and we're giving up huge yardage to the QB no matter how predictable him running with it will be, I think there has to be some kind of change. I think someone can agree with me that we saw less talented DBs do a better job on coverage with the same receivers we played this year. You just should not be able to launch the ball down the field and connect every time.
Posted on 1/5/15 at 6:51 am to CrimsonFever
quote:
I don't like this uptempo offense/ soft defense crap. I miss the way we physically dominated teams 09 - 12, why did we change philosophies? It was obviously working very well.
Completely agree, sadly that style of football is slowly going the way of the dinosaur in college football.
It's frustrating to watch Arkansas have the kind of team we used to and still manage to have success. It's like we are too stubborn or stupid to figure out how to do it now.
Posted on 1/5/15 at 7:47 am to VVega
I think Saban saw how the game is changing and knew that he had to get more out of his offense. I always thought we weren't getting the full potential out of our offense relative to the talent that we had coming in.
The problem is we threw the baby out with the bathwater. Kiffin is a great OC but his flaw is trying to treat short yardage downs as opportunities to trick the defense. Lost in all of the highlights were the UT-LSU-Miss State game stretch where our offense could not stay on the field because we became way too pass happy.
On defenses, the third and long problem is in our heads now. Its like we have the shanks. Teams get confidence against us on 3rd Down and you can tell we tighten up.
The problem is we threw the baby out with the bathwater. Kiffin is a great OC but his flaw is trying to treat short yardage downs as opportunities to trick the defense. Lost in all of the highlights were the UT-LSU-Miss State game stretch where our offense could not stay on the field because we became way too pass happy.
On defenses, the third and long problem is in our heads now. Its like we have the shanks. Teams get confidence against us on 3rd Down and you can tell we tighten up.
Posted on 1/5/15 at 8:36 am to CrimsonFever
We don't have as physical of an offensive line (yet). Grant Hill is a guy I like that's pretty powerful and can play multiple positions. Cam Robinson of course started as a TF, who I may add, everyone doubted a freshman playing LT in the SEC, and dominated. Kelly will have been here for 3 years now and is consistent I would say. Not overly dominating, but not pretty good.
Posted on 1/5/15 at 8:43 am to FairhopeTider
Agreed, honestly the offense doesn't bother as much as the defense.
We really seem to be out coaching ourselves at times on that side of the ball. Now I'm hardly an expert, but sometimes...you just got to put the best eleven on the field and let them play.
We really seem to be out coaching ourselves at times on that side of the ball. Now I'm hardly an expert, but sometimes...you just got to put the best eleven on the field and let them play.
Posted on 1/5/15 at 8:53 am to VVega
quote:Bingo. I want that back. I have post-McElwain fatigue. Kiffin showed spots of brilliance this year, but as was mentioned by someone else, got far too pass-happy at inopportune times as well. Reminded me of the '07 Bama offense under Applewhite. It had tons of highlights, but kept the other team in the game even after Bama jumped out to a big lead. (The Arkansas and LSU games from that year come to mind.) This should be the first thing corrected in the offseason.
It's frustrating to watch Arkansas have the kind of team we used to and still manage to have success.
Posted on 1/5/15 at 9:22 am to RTR America
It hasn't changed so much that tackling and being physical are not part of the game. We missed tackles, couldn't get off blocks and just really were lacking in the hitting department. There were times that we couldn't even get someone out of bounds when we had them in the crosshairs.
Posted on 1/5/15 at 9:39 am to UsingUpAllTheLetters
quote:
It had tons of highlights, but kept the other team in the game even after Bama jumped out to a big lead.
I'm going to rant a little bit here because I like this discussion..
Keep in mind we lost some big leads in 2008/2009 when we had the prototypical "MTAQ" offense. The LSU game was where that quote began and we had a tough second half against an inferior LSU team. Against LSU in 2011, McElwein called the Maze pass that IMO, was just as untimely as the one in the 4th quarter made that Von Bell intercepted. McElwein was also very suspect in the redzone. So maybe our memory of things is a little rosier than what they actually were.
To me, "MTAQ" either means crushing a team's will from the start (Notre Dame 2013) or slowly breaking it over the course of the game (Ole Miss 2009). Its more of a mentality than anything else. It means coming out in the third/fourth quarter and just taking the air out of the game. In 2008/2009, that meant having long, time consuming drives that eat clock and end up with a TD. It means the defense knows what is coming and can't stop it. Then our defense comes out and cleans things up. We did that against Miss State and it didn't really make them quit. We made AU quit this year. We made Missouri quit. We didn't do it against Ole Miss, Arkansas, LSU, or Ohio State.
So maybe we still have it. Maybe we don't. You have to be efficient on both sides of the ball to truly make a team quit. All year, we were not consistently efficient in the second half. Both units gave us oppotunities to win the Sugar Bowl that the unit on the other side of the ball failed to capitalize on. You also have to be able to suck it up and commit to running the ball.
Another thing to factor is that teams are not as intimidated by us anymore. They actually get a little more energized because they know we can be beaten. That feeds their resolve. Its gotten to the point now where we get out to big leads and the other team doesn't always fold. If a team is hanging with us in the second half, they catch a second wind because they think want their own "2013 Iron Bowl" moment.
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